The grid cooking of food requires to arrange the grid over a source of heat resulting from combustion and heating the food via conduction of the heat, transmitted directly between the heated grid and the food, and by convection since the grid is provided with openings for enabling the hot air and the combustion smoke to pass through the grid itself and to lap the food.
As is known, during the grid cooking of food containing fat, part of the fat melts and drips onto the grid. When this happens, the grease that is dripping can pass through the grid and come into direct contact with the source of heat, for example embers, and ignite, thus producing flames that lap the food. It is evident that it is necessary to prevent (or at least limit) the food from coming into direct contact with the flames because it would get burnt and undergo irreparable damage.
In the case where the grid is installed in a gas barbecue, in addition to the risk of generating a flame that damages the food, the grease that drips through the grid dirties the barbecue, which necessarily entails thorough cleaning.
To prevent the above drawbacks, it is today known to provide barriers positioned above the internal port of the openings in such a way as to intercept and deflect the grease that is dripping, which, by gravity, would spontaneously drop into said openings. These barriers may be provided in the form of elements external to the grid, or may directly consist of shaped portions of the grid itself.
The patent application No. WO 2008/125258 describes a solution of the known type in which the grid assembly is formed by two grids arranged on top of one another, where the lower grid has grease-collection channels and openings that separate the adjacent channels, whereas the upper grid has tile-like elements separated by openings and arranged in such a way as to guide into the channels the grease that is dripping. According to this example, the lower grid and the upper grid are arranged on top of one another in such a way that the respective slits of the lower grid are vertically aligned and completely covered by the tile-like elements of the upper grid. Thanks to this arrangement the grease that drips from the upper grid is then collected into the channels of the second, lower, grid, without it possibly dripping into the bottom openings and thus ending up in contact with the heat source. This technical solution on the one hand is certainly efficient, but on the other is costly since it requires the use of two grids instead of just one.